'How I won a Geosymposium for young researchers in Poland' - the experience of Muhammad Nur Ali Akbar

13. October 2018. 08:45

'I have more opportunities here than I had at home. Being in the center of Europe helps me stay connected with all that happens in my field of interest in this area', told me Muhammad Nur Ali Akbar. Muhammad is currently an MSc Petroleum Geoengineering student at the University of Miskolc and the president of the Indonesian chapter of Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts. Recently, he returned from an international conference in Poland, where he has been awarded for the best oral presentation.

Written by Alina Girnet, 1st year SH fellow student, alina.girnet(at)gmail.com

His study experience started with being a Petroleum Engineering student, but shortly after the beginning of the last year, he realized that he would like to study something a bit different from his Bachelor’s program. The flexibility of the university allowed him to change for Petroleum Geoengineering, a program that makes him now very enthusiastic about pursuing a research career.

“Studying here is better for me because I think I am closer to the opportunities. Moreover, I enjoy living in an international community, as in my class every single student is from a different country. Besides, Hungary is situated in the center of Europe, which makes it easy to stay connected with all the opportunities from other European countries. This, I think, will be of much help in my intention of making research on a wide level.”

Representing The University of Miskolc at a conference in Poland

“Some of my friends here convinced me to apply for the Symposium, and once I submitted my abstract and it was accepted, I had to find financial support for attending the conference. In that time, I was also interested in attending a conference in China, but I finally decided to try my chances in Poland. Luckily, the Faculty of Earth Science and Engineering gave me all the support I needed with the application process, as well with covering the costs for transportation and accommodation. I am very thankful to them.”

That is how Muhammad got to represent the University of Miskolc at the 11th Geosymposium of Young Researchers, Silesia 2018, which has taken place between 12th and 14th September 2018 in Istebna, Poland. His research paper, named “K-Mean Cluster Analysis for Better Determining the Sweet Spot Intervals of the Unconventional Organic-Rich Shale: A Case Study”, is making a point in the field of unconventional energy.

The conference, meant to build a platform for facilitating the exchange of participants' experiences, gathered around 60 PhD students, Master’s students and young professionals from Romania, Germany, Turkey, Czech Republic, China, Russia, Australia, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Indonesia and Poland, who came from different fields such as Environmental Engineering, Geophysics, Mineralogy, and PetroleumEngineering.

“I did not expect to win”

“My arrival was a bit rushed, which gave me practically very little time to get ready for the presentation. Despite it was not even complete, I succeeded to give all the insights of it. I have worked previously at this topic while I was in my country, and attended other conferences related to it. During all this time, I worked on this paper, trying to improve it and develop new methods. In simple terms, I am researching the method to determine the best intervals depth for future development of drilled well for getting the gas or oil needed. This is a very interesting topic in the energy sector nowadays especially in the field of unconventional oil and gas.”

Muhammad says he did not expect to win, as he faced experienced opponents. “After my presentation, I got to know some professors who offered me the opportunity to join their researches. We are now in touch for setting the timeframe and all the other conditions needed for working together on this project.”

The problems of the industry

“After the studies, I see myself working in this region as a researcher. Regarding the problems of the industry, I am very positive. We are talking about energy industry, and that is something that would never end, because every human needs energy for life. I personally believe there is still a lot of time to work with petroleum and gas. Moreover, the unconventional energy brings new hope. We just need to research it as much as possible and use it. I think it has a promising future.”